Fauna and Geographical Distribution of Scorpions in Ilam Province, South Western Iran.

BACKGROUND
Scorpions' stings and their own mortalities place them among the most important health and medical problems. The dreadful features and especially their poisonous stings are considered a major cause of human stress and abhorrence/phobia. The current study aimed to study the scorpion fauna of Ilam Province, south western Iran in order to manage scorpionism related problems.


METHODS
In this field-laboratory investigation during March 2014 to February 2015, different parts of Ilam Province were surveyed. Nine sampling parts were selected based on geographical situation, scorpionism reports, weather, flora, and local data. Capturing scorpion was done employing a black light, and a long forceps from dusk to midnight. The collected scorpions were placed to 70% ethyl alcohol. All specimens were determined based on the valid taxonomic keys, furthermore their sexes were studied.


RESULTS
Out of the 391 collected scorpions, 11 species were identified as follows: Hottentotta saulcyi, Mesobuthus eupeus, Compsobuthus matthiesseni, Razianus zarudnyi, Hemiscorpius lepturus, Androctonus crassicauda, Orthochirus iranus, Odontobuthus bidentatus, Buthacus macrocentrus, Scorpio maurus, and Polisius persicus.


CONCLUSION
Eleven species of Buthidae, Scorpionidae and Hemiscorpiidae families from high risk areas were identified. Despite the low surface of the province, such different species reveals a diverse scorpion fauna that, in turn, shows good and suitable habits of scorpions, as considered by health staff.


Introduction
The fearful feature and painful poisonous stings of scorpions have caused human phobia for a long time. Most people think of scorpions as pests and killers of man (Polis 1990). Scorpions having diverse distribution are mostly living in semi-temperate regions at latitude of 23-38 °C, while their abundance and diversity toward Equator and also poles decrease (Polis 1990). Out of about 1,500 scorpion species in the world, few cause severe toxicity, including more than 1.23 million stings annually, of which approximately 3,250 (0.27%) cause death (Khatony et al. 2015). Mexico, Colombia, and Iran are the most affected countries.
Ilam Province (Latitude: 33° 63' 74" N, Longitude: 46° 42' 27" E) located at west of Iran with around 20,150km 2 and 1.2% surface of the country area, rich and diverse plant coverage, and also various climates, is of the most suitable living-places for scorpions. The current study aimed at determining fauna and bio-geographical distribution of scorpions in Ilam in 2014-15.

Materials and Methods
In this cross-sectional study of employing field and laboratory techniques, the fauna was investigated during March 2014 to February 2015. The sampling sites (nine places) were selected based on geographical situation, scorpionism reports, weather, and plant coverage in all the three climates of the province. The detailed data of sampling sites have been shown in Table 1 and Fig. 1.
The sampling was done at night (from dusk to midnight) using a black light -ultra violet (UV) light-and a long forceps. All the captured scorpions were placed in 70% ethyl alcohol. No specimens were caught by abovementioned method during November to February months, due to cold weather of sampling areas. The geographical data were recorded by a GPS apparatus (GARMIN 78 S).
All the specimens were identified according to taxonomic keys (Navidpour et al. 2008a). The gender of specimens was also determined based on Farzanpey method (Farzanpay and Vachon 1979).

Results
Out of all the 391 specimens collected from nine sites in different parts of the province, 11 species were identified as follows:

Discussion
In the current study, totally 11 scorpion species from Buthidae, Scorpionidae, and Hemiscorpiidae families were identified, which shows a diverse fauna due to the good habitat and favorite climate of the studied area. In other studies accomplished in Iran, 8 species from Fars and Kohgilouyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces (Azizi et al. 2001 In the current study, 11 species including H. saulcyi, M. eupeus, C. matthiesseni, R. zarudnyi, H. lepturus, A. crassicauda, O. iranus, O. bidentatus, B. macrocentrus, S. maurus, and P. persicus were collected and identified in Ilam Province. Mozafari had reported 7 species in one county of the province (Mozaffari et al. 2013), Gowhari had identified 10 species in different climates of the province (Gowhari et al. 2012), however, Navidpour reported 14 species in three families, while Vachoniolus iranus, Compsobuthus jakesi, Apistobuthus susanae species were not found in our study. The recent species had been found in Ein-e-Kosh village (Navidpour et al. 2008a), located in far south of the province, having a similar climate and ecosystem to that of Khuzestan Province. Therefore, no sampling has been done in that area, a fact that justifies the difference.
The most abundant species of the province was H. saulcyi which collected in all the three climatic areas of the province, as well reported by Gowhari in all studied places (Gowhari et al. 2012). Sedaghat (Sedaghat et al. 2012), in respect to biogeographical distribution of Iran's scorpions has reported the H. saulcyi in Khuzestan, Kohgiloyeh-Boirahmad, and Kermanshah Provinces with dryhot, cold-mountainous, and mild-mountainous climates, respectively, showing high adaptation of the species.
The second abundant species was M. eupeus found in mountainous areas and beneath the rocks, that were in accordance with the findings of Khairabadi in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari mountainous areas, and also those of Motavali-Haghi from mountains of Sari County, northern Iran (Motavali-Haghi et al. 2004, Pirali-Kheirabadi et al. 2014.
Out of the most dangerous and venomous scorpions, H. lepturus and A. crassicauda (black scorpion) with frequencies of 7% and 5%, respectively, were also found in the studied area. The H. lepturus has been re-ported as the most dangerous and main cause of death in Khuzestan Provinces' scorpionism (Radmanesh 1990, Dehghani and Fathi 2012, Nejati et al. 2014. The thin and small sting has been reported as the feature of such species, along with a painless sting which leads to acute complications such as tissue necrosis, hemolysis, and even death during the first 48 hours. Hemiscorpius lepturus was identified in Golan, Badre, and Murmuri areas of the province. Androctonus crassicauda was found in five areas of the province (Table 2) reported as the main scorpionism cause in Khuzestan Province. The current species have also been reported in Semnan, Bushehr, and Lorestan provinces (Sedaghat et al. 2012).
From the sex-ratio point of view, the females were the dominant gender during the study, i.e. 2:1 (F/M) sex ratio. Wilson has reported the sex-ratio (F/M) of 3.91 and/or 4:1 (Lourenço 2002). Shahi has also reported much more abundance of females than males in Hormozgan Province which both are in accordance with our findings (Shahi et al. 2009).

Conclusion
Despite the relatively small area (1.2% of the country surface), a diverse fauna was seen, compared to other studies in different provinces of Iran. Such geographical distribution may be affected by climate changes and global warming, their habitat, and even the distribution pattern of each species (Bellard et al. 2012). The health and medical importance of scorpions necessitates comprehensive and periodic research on their ecology including habitat, diet, environment's temperature, humidity, and precipitation in the province. and Technology Deputy, Ilam University of Medical Sciences for their encouragement and financial support through grant no 22.40.54495, dated 2/04/2014. Thanks also go to Mr HR Shoohanizad for his invaluable points during writing the MS. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.